Together with StubHub and Dr. Martens, indie band “Portugal. The Man” is helping to raise $1 million to go to schools with underfunded musical programs.

The money is being raised for the purchase of musical instruments, in hopes that they will inspire a new generation of artists and musicians. The program is wired to donate to schools all across the country, focusing specifically on institutions that are underfunded.

It has been set up in partnership with MHOF (Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation), which is dedicated to musical education. There are many schools that are not able to provide an artistic outlet for their youth.

This program intends to help kids stay off the streets and give them a healthy creative focus, which many of them do not get the opportunity to discover. Many schools are not able to provide this type of expression for their pupils, in an environment that is conductive to their spirit and individuality.

The first city to benefit from the project will be Austin, Texas. Austin is home of SXSW, the South by Southwest music, film, and interactive festival- where the project was introduced earlier this week. Two schools in Austin will be some of the first, receiving more than $80,000 worth of musical instruments this year.

In a recent press release, Felice Mancini (President and CEO of MHOF) said, “Sadly, due to the high cost of musical instruments, school music programs around the country are struggling, even when the will to keep them alive is strong.”

They plan to add more sponsors and artists to the cause, as the project continues into the year. This outreach is the beginning. With a little effort, people can help support causes like this to further the youth’s potential for creativity and aspiration. If you know a school in need, or want to get more info, go to the MHOF website or share this post.

Dogs Help Children Learn to Read

Therapy dogs have been used for a wide variety of things but this week a special group of therapy dogs have been getting quite a bit of attention. The dogs are part of a national group called R.E.A.D. which stands for reading education assistance dogs and from the name it is pretty obvious what their purpose is. Surprisingly these reading assistance dogs have been quite effective according to many teachers.

Across the country these specially trained dogs have been visiting schools to help children learn to read and further develop their reading skills. The idea of using dogs to help children develop better reading skills began in 1999 and ever since then the project has been gaining steam all across the United States.

The dogs are basically used as a reading partner, meaning that children will sit with these therapy dogs and just read to them rather than a teacher or peer. The concept is that dogs are not judgmental or critical of the students and as a result children are much more open to reading to them.

Reading dogs are being used in hundreds of elementary schools around the country and overall nearly all teachers agree that they are remarkably effective. Everyone from students with learning disabilities to children who are simply shy or intimidated enjoy reading to the dogs and overall teachers say basically all of the students show significant improvement after reading with the dogs. Amazingly the program has also begun expanding by using other animals as well; though at this time it is in the early stages.